When it was announced that Sony had decided to completely incinerate their plans for a fourth Spider-Man, as well as everyone involved from director Sam Raimi to stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, we could only imagine who might step in and replace them for the proposed overhaul of the franchise.

Not too long after that, it was announced that (500) Days of Summer director Marc Webb would be the new man at the wheel, and now we’re beginning to hear the names that could become Spider-Man himself.

In a chat with Access Hollywood‘s Billy Bush, Logan Lerman was pointed out as a prime candidate for the new Spider-Man, and was then asked if he was in any sort of talks about the role. Lerman excitedly admitted that he has had conversations with Sony and the producers of the film, and that he’s hoping that more talks will follow. He also admitted that it was the producers who sought him out, and not the other way around — surely a good sign for Lerman, whether he lands the role or not.

Here’s what Lerman had to say:

Logan Lerman isn’t the best of known names yet, but he is certainly close to becoming so. The 18-year-old actor is set to show up in the possible franchise-starting Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief. Before that, he was in 3:10 to Yuma and Gamer among many other thing, but it will be Percy Jackson that really puts his name out there. Add to that this chance that he could become Spider-Man, and you’re looking at a star in the making.

One thing important to keep in mind is that Lerman is just stating that he has had talks about this role. These talks do NOT mean that he’s the choice for Sony, and there are likely many other names on a list of candidates. This was also just confirmed by the trades, who have a quote from those involved saying that Lerman is not the “lead candidate.”

As with any role of this magnitude, there’s going to be a ton of rumors and possibilities. Just recently, some British gossip someone or another had the web abuzz with word that High School Musical star Zac Efron was the kid they wanted. This seemed so fake it wasn’t even worth mention, but at this point, anyone is fair game and nothing should come as a real shock to anyone. If Efron is indeed cast, I’ll have to swallow my tongue (and my entire head in hopes of death) and report it. If you’ll recall back to The Dark Knight, pretty much every name you could think of was rumored to be in for the role of the Joker.

Don’t forget: Sony wants to completely restart the franchise and begin at the high school origins of Spider-Man, but we’ve never been told exactly HOW they wish to do that. They could want to go a little darker, but they could want to go younger in cast AND audience. With names like Lerman having chats and rumors like Efron (as absurd as it sounds) being shouted, could they be revving up for a tweenage fan-base takeover?

[Source: THR]